Ercole II of Ferrara

Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (5 April 1508-3 October 1559) was the Duke of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio from 1534 to 1559, succeeding Alfonso I of Ferrara and preceding Alfonso II of Ferrara.

Biography
Ercole was the son of Alfonso I of Ferrara and Lucrezia Borgia. He was of noble descent on both sides: he was related to the art collector Isabella d'Este through his father and to Pope Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia through his mother. He was the half-brother of Rodrigo Borgia of Aragon and Giovanni Borgia, the latter of whom was a famous member of the Assassin Order.

Ercole made a diplomatic marriage to Renee of France, the daughter of the late King Louis XII of France, in April 1528. However, upon becoming Duke of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio in 1534, Ercole found the French too influential and expensive and by 1543 all of the Frenchmen were dismissed from his court. In 1554 he declared his wife a heretic because of her Protestant beliefs that were spread by John Calvin.

Despite his acts of hostility towards France and his wife, he supported the Papal States and France in the Habsburg-Valois War (1551-1559) after 1556 and helped to settle the peace in 1558. His wife's longing to return to France was fulfilled when Ercole died 1559.